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Bombing suspects and brothers in arms


The portrait now emerging of the two brothers suspected in the Boston bombings offers more questions than answers.

Nothing about their history, at least what is known so far, indicates they might have done something as heinous as detonating two bombs at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing 3 and wounding 183 more.

According to reports, the one suspect who remains at large, 19-year-old Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, attended a prestigious high school in Cambridge, Mass., and won a $2,500 scholarship from the city to continue his education. Police have launched a massive manhunt for Dzhokhar, who is described as armed and dangerous.

The pair's father, Anzor Tsarnaev, reached by phone at his home in Dagestan, described his son as an "angel." He suggested the pair was set up.

Contrary to earlier reports that labeled the brothers as recently arrived immigrants, the pair have been in the United States for about 10 years, according to an uncle who lives in Montgomery Village, Md. The pair lived together near Boston.

Before moving to America, Dzhokhar attended school in Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim republic in Russia’s North Caucasus, the epicenter of the Islamic insurgency that spilled over from Chechnya. On a Russian social media site, Dzhokhar says he speaks, Chechen, English and Russian. He listed his religion as Islam but claimed his personal goal was "career and money."

Dzhokhar’s brother Tamerlan, the 26-year-old killed in a shootout with police earlier this morning, was a boxer who attended a local community college and studied engineering. According to a crime reporting website, Tamerlan was arrested for domestic violence in 2009 after assaulting his girlfriend.


Leigh Jones

Leigh is features editor for WORLD. She is a World Journalism Institute graduate who spent six years as a newspaper reporter in Texas before joining WORLD News Group. Leigh also co-wrote Infinite Monster: Courage, Hope, and Resurrection in the Face of One of America's Largest Hurricanes. She resides with her husband and daughter in Houston, Texas.


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